President Donald Trump’s administration is expected to issue guidelines this week on how to protect copyright and intellectual property, according to people familiar with the matter.
The administration is also expected to unveil a rule to protect patent applications filed by patent trolls and patent trolls who use copyright and patent laws to file for patents, according the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
The White House has not yet publicly indicated whether it plans to issue any such guidance.
The move comes amid a growing trend in recent years of the Trump administration seeking to limit what the government can do to protect the rights of copyright holders and their businesses.
Under Trump, the Trump Administration has been taking steps to shrink government programs that are meant to help businesses fight piracy and other crimes.
The Copyright Office has issued more than 1,200 orders over the last four years that have prevented more than $1 billion in revenue from copyright infringement.
Among the moves that the administration has made to shrink those programs, it has reduced the number of lawsuits filed against music and movies in the U.S. by 25 percent and reduced the scope of patent and copyright infringement investigations by 25 to 40 percent.
Since January, the administration also has reduced litigation costs for individuals and corporations who are subject to patent and copyrights, reduced the impact of patent troll lawsuits and increased the amount of intellectual property protection that courts can grant, according a document outlining those moves.
“The administration’s actions have helped the Copyright Office to recover more than 4 million copyright infringement suits from alleged infringers,” the document reads.
“These actions have resulted in more than 6 million settlements and hundreds of millions of dollars in financial compensation.”